Who We Serve and Why

Recently, one of our patients said, “When your job lays you off, your benefits go with you…problem is, you’re still sick. If it weren’t for Shepherd’s Clinic, I don’t know what I’d do. The service is pro­fes­sio­nal and I can afford it. What more could you ask for?”

46 million Americans have no health insurance and one-third of the entire U.S. popu­la­tion was uninsured at some point over the past two years. In Baltimore City, appro­xi­ma­tely 100,000 adults are without health insurance and the number is growing each day. What happens when people are uninsured? They don’t get care.

So, when one of our city residents was referred to Shepherd’s Clinic not long ago, she didn’t know that her blood pressure was over 300/180 because she hadn’t seen a doctor in 12 years.

That’s the very reason we opened our doors back in 1991.  The fact that Shepherd’s Clinic exists truly does improve the quality of health care for Baltimore’s uninsured.  We offer these indi­vi­duals a quality alter­na­tive to living with untreated illnesses.  For the suggested donation of an hour’s wage, they receive the care needed to prevent illness from becoming a medical emergency, to control chronic diseases such as diabetes and hyper­ten­sion, and to receive annual scree­nings and care for common health problems.  For many of our patients, the Clinic is literally a lifesaver.

Our Services

Primary and Specialty Health Care

• Internal Medicine
• Car­dio­logy
• Der­ma­to­logy
• Endoc­ri­no­logy
• Gyne­co­logy
• Gas­troen­te­ro­logy
• Nutrition & Education for Diabetics
• Physical Therapy
• Podiatry
• Prostate Cancer Screening
• Pre­ven­tive Screening

Clinical Services Not Provided

• Obs­te­tri­cal Care
• Emergency Services
• Health­care for the Homeless
• Disa­bi­lity Eva­lua­tions for Non-patients

The Clinic’s goal is to arrange com­prehen­sive health care for the uninsured in the following Baltimore City zip codes: 21211, 21218, and 21213.

Through the dedi­ca­tion of more than 250 volun­teers, we offer a host of primary and specialty care services from car­dio­logy to gynecology. Patients are asked to donate the equi­va­lent of one hour’s wage for an office visit or $9.00 if they are currently unemployed. Our community partner, Medstar Union Memorial Hospital, joins us in serving this uninsured popu­la­tion by providing our patients with necessary specialty con­sul­ta­tions, diag­nos­tic pro­ce­du­res, and surgeries at no cost. As a result, our patients enjoy a con­ti­nuity of care expe­rien­ced only by the fully insured.

Clinical Coor­di­na­tor Kema Goodwin, RN oversees the nursing function and all of the facility, materials and supplies related to patient care. Medical oversight of the Clinic is provided by the clinic’s Director Melissa DeLong and associate medical director Meegan Chestnut. Union Memorial Hospital phy­si­cians, they see patients, review labo­ra­tory reports, approve referrals back to the Hospital, supervise residents, and are available for con­sul­ta­tion with other providers.

Since 2006, Shepherd’s Clinic has enjoyed a permanent home at 2800 Kirk Avenue, right behind Baltimore City College. This wonderful facility has been renovated with the specific needs of the Clinic and its patients in mind. It allows the sepa­ra­tion of medical and admi­nis­tra­tive functions, provides for secure and separate storage for patient records and for medi­ca­tions, includes a separate labo­ra­tory space for drawing blood and other pro­ce­du­res, has eight efficient examining rooms, plentiful restroom faci­li­ties, ample free parking spaces,  public trans­por­ta­tion access, and separate patient intake and checkout pro­ces­sing, enhancing patient privacy.  It is, in short, exactly like a regular doctor’s office, rather than a cha­ri­ta­ble clinic.